The Yasar Dogu has big seeding implications for Team USA

Jordan Burroughs will look to earn a higher seed at 74 kg for the World Championships.

The Yasar Dogu in Istanbul, Turkey is the last United World Wrestling ranking tournament of the year for men’s and women’s freestyle. The Ivan Yarygin in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, the Dan Kolov in Ruse, Bulgaria and the Sassari International in Sassari City, Italy, were the three other ranking tournaments where competitors could earn points that would go towards seeding at the 2019 World Championships. The four wrestlers per weight class with the most points will be seeded one through four in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan this September at the World Championships.

The placement points at a ranking series tournament break down to a first place performance earning 8 points, second earning 6 points, third earning 4 points and fifth earning 2 points. If a bracket has more than 20 competitors, the placers earn an additional 10 points, if a bracket has between 11-20 wrestlers an additional 8 points, and under 11 competitors is an additional 6 points.

Points from 2018 World Championship placements carry over to this year, with a World gold earning 50 points, a silver 30 points, a bronze 15 points, fifth place 10 points, seventh place 8 points, eighth place 6 points, ninth place 4 points and tenth place 2 points.

With this being the last men’s and women’s freestyle ranking tournament, there are several USA Wrestlers trying to punch through to secure a seed for the World Championships.

The men’s freestyle team will not have World Team members Daton Fix and Tyler Graff competing at 57 and 61 kg. If they were wrestling, there would still be no path to a seed. Neither have earned any placement points this year.

Likewise at 65 kg, Zain Retherford has no way to earn a seed. The USA No. 2 at the weight class, Yianni Diakomihalis is also competing.

Two-time World medalist James Green is competing at 70 kg. He placed third at the Dan Kolov ranking series tournament, but does not have enough points to challenge for a top-four position.

Olympic champion and four-time World champion Jordan Burroughs currently sits in third with 63 points. Ahead of him are Frank Chamizo of Italy with 72 points and returning World champion Zaurbek Sidakov of Russia with 76 points. There are 20 wrestlers currently registered to compete which means the maximum points Burroughs could earn is 16. If the field stands and Burroughs wins, he would be in first place with 79 points. However, Chamizo is also is the field, and he would have to place outside the top five for Burroughs to pass him. The pair have faced off three times, with Burroughs leading the series 2-1. The rubber match came at the 2018 World Championships where Burroughs defeated him to take bronze.

Sidakov is not currently registered, nor is Georgia’s Avtandil Kentchadze who currently sits as the No. 4 seed with 58 points. If Kentchadze registers at the last minute and places higher than Burroughs, it is possible that Burroughs drops into the fourth position. However, most likely Burroughs ends the weekend in a top three seed with a good chance at the No. 2 spot.

79 kg is interesting for the United States due to the World Team spot still being up for grabs. Returning World champion Kyle Dake and Alex Dieringer will wrestle-off on August 17 to decide who will represent Team USA. Dake is currently tied for first with Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbajian with 60 points. Sitting right behind them with 57 points is Akhmed Gadzhimagomedov of Russia. However, Gadzhimagomedov is apparently injured and will most likely not be competing at the World Championships, which would remove him from the seeding ladder.

Dieringer will represent the U.S. at the Yasar Dogu. He currently has 26 points which has him tied for 10th. 15 entries are currently registered which means there are 16 points up for grabs.

If Dieringer wins, it would put him at 42 points, which is currently good enough for the No. 4 seed. If he defeats Dake for the spot, and Gadzhimagomedov does not wrestle, he would actually wind up as the No. 2 seed. What complicates this however, are Fateh Benferdjallah of Algeria and Parveen Rana of India who are tied for fifth place with 28 points. If Dieringer wins the tournament and one of these wrestlers places second; they will have the same number of points as Dieringer.

If Dieringer does not win the tournament but still places in the bracket, he still has a chance to earn a seed. The current No. 4 is Galymzhan Usserbayev of Kazakhstan with 30 points. He is not competing in the tournament, and Dieringer would pass him if he places. However, in this scenario Dieringer would still have to outplace Benferdjallah and Rana, and he could still end up tied with one or both of them.

If Dake defeats Dieringer and earns the spot, he would slot in as the No. 2 seed.

At 86 kg America will not earn a seed as Pat Downey has not had the opportunity to earn any placement points. 2018 World Champion David Taylor was injured before Final X and unable to compete for a World Team. At worst, Taylor would have been the No. 2 seed.

Returning World champion J’den Cox has already secured the top seed at 92 kg with 78 points. In addition to the points from the 2018 World Championship, Cox won the Pan Ams to lock up the spot. He can push his lead even further by earning more points at the Yasar Dogu

Kyle Snyder is two points behind current No. 1 Abdulrashid Sadulaev at 97 kg. Snyder defeated Sadulaev in the 2017 World Championship finals to secure the team title for the U.S. but lost to him in the finals the following year. Sadulaev is not currently registered for the tournament, so if Snyder places, he will earn No. 1 seed.

Two-time World bronze medalist Nick Gwiazdowski is currently in the fifth spot at 125 kg with 45 points. Tied for fourth place five points ahead of him are Taha Akgul of Turkey and Anzor Khizriev of Russia. There are currently 12 wrestlers registered in the weight class, which means there are 16 points available. If Gwiazdowski places he will guarantee himself the No. 4 seed. Khizriev is not registered for the tournament but Akgul is. However, if current No.7, Daniel Ligeti of Hungary wins the tournament and Gwiazdowski does not place, then he will pass him. Winning the tournament will be a tall order with Akgul in the bracket. Akgul is a 2016 Olympic champion and a two-time World champion.

The lone women’s competitor for Team USA is Forrest Molinari at 65 kg. Her bracket features ten wrestlers, so a gold medal would earn her 14 points. Petra Olli of Finland already has the No. 1 seed locked up with 88 placement points. Molinari is currently tied for third with Canada’s Danielle Lappage at 40 points. In second is Russia’s Mariia Kuznetsova with 42 points. Lappage and Kuznetsova are not competing in the tournament, so If Molinari places she will move into the No. 2 seed.

Aina Temirtassova of Kazahkstan is currently No. 6 with 26 points. She could tie Molinari and Lappage in the rankings if she wins the tournament and Molinari does not place.

Three other American women have already clinched seeds including, returning World silver medalist at 53 kg Sarah Hildebrandt, returning World bronze medalist at 68 kg, Tamyra Mensah-Stock and returning World Champion at 76 kg Adeline Gray. Hildebrandt has secured the No. 1 seed, and Mensah has earned the No. 2. Gray currently has the most placement points in the weight class with 78. However, Yasemin Adar of Turkey is right behind her with 76 points, followed by Aline Focken of Germany with 68 points. Both are registered for this tournament, and depending how it plays out, Gray will be seeded anywhere between first and third in the World Championship bracket.

The last Greco-Roman ranking tournament is the Oleg Karavaev in Minsk, Belarus. It will take place later this July, but the U.S. is not planning on sending any wrestlers. The Greco-Roman team has two wrestlers who are guaranteed seeds. At 97 kg, G’Angelo Hancock has secured the No. 3 seed. Returning World silver medalist Adam Coon currently is the No. 2 at 130 kg, but he could fall to No. 4 if Heiki Nabi of Estonia and Minseok Kim of South Korea both place in the tournament.